While there was welcome rain across far western NSW and coastal southern Western Australia in the past week rainfall deficits remain in many parts of the country.
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) data showed that April rainfall for the nation as a whole was 26 per cent down on average in spite of heavy rainfall in the east and the northern tropics.
It reported that while there was an early April autumn break in large parts of NSW, Queensland and eastern Victoria, April rain only consolidated this break in isolated parts of NSW and southern Queensland.
The short-term forecast will do little to allay the fears of those looking for rain.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) eight-day outlook has solid rain in excess of 25mm over large tracts of NSW but basically negligible falls for the majority of the country's other major grain producing zones.
For some growers the ongoing dry is useful as there is significant subsoil moisture and a normal autumn break would join up moisture and make paddock access difficult to complete sowing, however others who have dry sown canola are concerned about light rain germinating the seed without enough moisture to allow it to continue to grow.
ABARES reported in its Weekly Australian Climate, Water and Agriculture Update that upper and lower soil moisture was generally average to above average across the east coast, but in WA and SA there were significant soil moisture deficits.
Prior to the dry April overall there was above average rainfall for the first three months of the year, which had resulted in average to well above average pasture production for this time of year across key grazing regions.
But the agency reported that water storage levels in the critical Murray Darling Basin were falling.
MDB storage levels fell 255 gigalitres between April 18 and April 29 and the system's total storage is 15pc lower than at the same time last year.